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Who Is News Talks Audience?

S

Signal_Faded

For so long the 25-54 demo has been looked at as the 'money' demo. I read something recently where a highly respected/rated talker said that their target was 35-54.

Just wondering what the opinion on this board was on the topic.
 
What makes a person want to listen to spoken word programming instead of music programming, and specifically spoken word programming about events in the news with a political perspective and specific point of view has more to do with the individual's interests than his birth date. Perhaps those who buy radio airtime should talk to their counterparts in the direct marketing industry about identifying prospective customers by identifiers other than the prospects' birthdays.

Those who rent mailing lists for targeted marketing tend to pay more attention to what the members of the list are interested in than how old they are. If the people who spend money on radio ads did the same thing, they could probably get a bigger bang for their advertising dollars.
 
Biz Listener - you are right on the money with that. I do know that radio uses qualitative data as well maybe just not as well as some other mediums.I guess my main question was that, for the longest time, I'vr heard the 25-54 talked about as the gold standard in talk demos. Has that now changed to 35-54 or is it just something I was seeing at one particular station?
 
25-54 or 35-54? Are you talking about who is being targeted or who is really listening? And basically, what is the point of the discussion?

Most talk is on AM, so the demos are going to be higher anyway.

One thing I notice is that Rush tends to let younger callers get on-air and mention their age, particularly the "Rush Babies" who were exposed to him by Mom or Dad and still listen now that they are in their 20's.
 
Sorry...I didn't mean to make this complicated. I guess what I want to know is who is talk radio selling to? What is THE prized demo? When a sales exec goes out to make a sale are they touting that they are #1 in 25-54 or in 35-54?
 
Having been away from the business a few years, my personal observations and experience on what discussion takes place during a sales call to sell radio is, to put it mildly, a bit dated.

Maybe in some markets today it has really become that antiseptic. A sales call is like two pre-programmed robots playing a chess game where you can see each play coming before it even happens.

But advertising buyers are still people. Sellers of radio advertising are still people. These people still have personalities. Still tell jokes. Still have or do not have a religious bent. Some buyers still bend a schedule to include some political philosophy they harbor.

Buyers still have personal opinions about what age group they SHOULD buy, some have retail clients that give specific direction as to what demo they want, others simply say: "I don't care what you buy.... GET ME SOME RESULTS! Make the cash register ring!"

So as a salesman, you shape your story and pitch the demo you think the buyer wants to be sold.

Ahhh, but I'm out of touch. After listening to some of the radio I hear these days, maybe there is no humanity left in the sales departments, the ad agencies and the companies that consume advertising as a form of fertilizing their crops. Come to think of it.... there isn't much "humanity" left on the sales floor of most of the retail outlets. Why would I dream that advertising buyers might retain personality and prejudice and opinion.
 
Goat Rodeo Cowboy said:
Ahhh, but I'm out of touch. After listening to some of the radio I hear these days, maybe there is no humanity left in the sales departments, the ad agencies and the companies that consume advertising as a form of fertilizing their crops. Come to think of it.... there isn't much "humanity" left on the sales floor of most of the retail outlets. Why would I dream that advertising buyers might retain personality and prejudice and opinion.
Click to expand...

Why should the sales departments at radio stations be any different from the programming departments?

It is a radically different world now, and almost all experience about how things used to work is about as relevant as being able to captain a sailing ship or shoe a horse. Remembering how things used to be in radio is right up there with knowing how to change phonograph needles, cue up a record, or cup your hand to your ear to hear your own voice.
 
My point was: Sales people, when it does not toatally disrupt the image of their product or service, tailor their sales pitch to what they know the buyer wants to buy.

When you sell your shampoo to Walmart, you stress your low price.

When you sell your shampoo to other vendors you may stress your quality.

When a family enters the auto dealership and makes it obvious economy is their goal, the sales people come up with numbers to show the economy of the product they are going to sell that family. When Stud Jones shows up with a sleeveless tee-shirt but high priced loafers, they stress the horsepower and performance of the product they are going to sell that hot-dog.

Are you telling me that today's sales force for radio comes in like a robot and has only one pre-recorded sales pitch, no matter what the attitudes and peculiarity of the advertising buyer?
 
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